


cashflow for kids

by tagteamme



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Hundred percent canonical Celestino, Instagram modelling, Phichit is enterprising, Pre-Series, University, Yuuri and Phichit are broke college students, please donate to their GoFundMe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-21 02:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10675788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tagteamme/pseuds/tagteamme
Summary: "Ah yes," Celestino tips back in his chair, closing his eyes. Phichit grabs Yuuri's glass and downs the rest of the wine. Yuuri is the only one who is stone cold sober. "I see a lot of myself in you two, you know. So much drive and passion."Yuuri doesn't see it fully, at least not for himself. Anxiety and fluctuating self loathe aside, he regularly hunts for his glasses while wearing them. He has boyband and extravagant figure skating posters up on his wall. He wore a neon orange sweatshirt and red track pants to practice last week.Phichit, maybe. Phichit has a little more flair. Phichit "accidentally" threw the red track pants down the trash chute.OR:Phichit and Yuuri and how they made some extra $$$ during their university years.





	cashflow for kids

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ryuutchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuutchi/gifts).



> Fulfilling the Phichit + Yuuri BFFs request for Ryuutchi from the Shall We Skate Exchange. Their friendship makes me feel so warm. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing! (pls click the links)

The key misses the keyhole once again. Yuuri's forehead thuds against the door in frustration, which makes things worse. He leaves his head pressed against the wood. Maybe he can mould into it and leave his mortal shell.

His roommate makes weak, silent grabbing motions towards him and Yuuri hands over his key. This time, it's Phichit listlessly scraping the lock but never actually getting the key in.

"Is everything okay, guys?" A painfully bright voice chirps from somewhere in the distance. Yuuri rotates his head, scraping the skin of his forehead from where it's still pressed against the door because he's sure if he stands upright he's going to fall down and never get up.

The voice belongs to a short redhead with a wide smile. He's wearing what could potentially be the greenest sweater to be ever created, and it's hurting Yuuri's eyes. It's not that bad in reality, but there's some demon that's got a squeeze on his brain right now as a punishment for all the drinking from the night before.

"I'm fine," Yuuri replies, voice cracking. "Just having a little trouble with the lock."

The redhead raises his eyebrows a little, but his smile stays plastered on. "Pardon?"

"The key...I was drinking last night and..." Yuuri gestures in the vague direction of the doorknob. "Nothing to worry about."

There is silence, and Phichit is staring at him. The redhead is staring at him. The door is staring at him. He closes his eyes.

"Yuuri-" Phichit begins, but the redhead interrupts.

"It's ok, it's ok!" The redhead says, voice a little louder and a little slower. "Here, let me help. I'm going to take the key from you now."

He comes over and takes the key, gently unlocking the door and opening it.

"I know figuring out new things can be hard," The redhead says, in the same slow but kind voice. "I'm Jason."

"Jason?" Phichit rolls the name around in his mouth a little, and the redhead smiles.

"Jason," he says, patting his own chest. "You?"

"Phichit," Phichit replies, patting his own chest. He reaches over and pats Yuri's chest. The simple pat rattles Yuuri to the core. He really needs some Advil. "Yuuri."

"Let me take you out for lunch," Jason says, making over exaggerated gestures with his hands. "To welcome you to America. My treat."

 _I've been here for three years_ , Yuuri is about to say, but Phichit is nodding enthusiastically.

"I'll meet you here," Jason points to them, then down to the floor. "In ten minutes." He holds up his hands, finger spread, and then points to his watch.

Phichit gives a thumbs up and a wide smile, and Jason closes the door.

"What was that?" Yuuri asks, as Phichit continues to stare at the door. Phichit slowly turns around. "What?"

"What was that?" Yuuri repeats, making the same exaggerated gestures that Jason did. "Welcome us to America?"

"You replied to him in Japanese," Phichit says as he starts to rummage for something. He tosses a bottle of painkillers to Yuuri, who somehow manages to catch it. "I think he thinks you can't speak in English."

"I did?" Yuuri asks as he opens the bottle and drops out two pills. "I didn't even realize."

"And now he's going to get us lunch," Phichit says. "Because he thinks this is our first day in America. Amazing."

That's how Yuuri and Phichit find themselves sitting in a White Castle, nursing their hangovers with slider after slider. Jason talks endlessly about how great America is and how they're going to love Detroit, and to not listen to anyone who pinches their eyebrows together and goes " _Detroit_?"

Yuuri feels sort of bad for not telling him that he's been in Detroit for three years and Phichit for two, and that they can both speak English. With an accent, but he doesn't plan on getting rid of that any time soon. At the same time, he's pretty sure Jason sat two rows behind him in one of his history lectures a semester ago.

So he doesn't feel  _that_  bad.

Jason talks animatedly to Phichit, because Yuri's head is still swimming and he can't muster up enough energy to even smile.

He really should thank Jason for the food, especially since he blew a  _staggering_  amount of money last night. The blame is one hundred percent Phichit's fault because Phichit knows that Yuuri acts like a total fool with alcohol. He  _knows_  that Yuuri can't stop once he starts and yet he dragged him out because underneath that sunshine exterior is someone who wants to watch the world (and more importantly, Yuuri) burn. Yuuri still doesn't understand why they had to go celebrate the beginning of the school year.  _It happens every year._

Instead of thanking him, Yuuri stares a hole into Jason. He has no ill intent behind it— he needs to focus on something so that he can ignore his head turning over.  Jason looks mildly uncomfortable, and Yuuri can easily read the moment on Jason's face when he just chalks up Yuri's stare to cultural differences and goes back to holding a mostly one sided conversation.

Eventually they wrap up when Phichit gestures to his watch and Jason offers to walk them home. He drops them back to their dorm room and gives them both a big hug. He pulls out his phone and passes it to Phichit, who stares at it for a second before punching in his phone number. As soon as Jason leaves, Yuuri does a full body dive onto his tiny bed and passes out.

Exactly one week later, theres a giant brown bag sitting in front of Phichit and Yuri's door. Yuuri trips over it on his way to get a coffee, and Phichit steps over him to see what it is.

It's a grocery bag packed to the brim with Kraft Dinner, Ritz Crackers, three bags of chips, a couple of cans of PBR and a single bag of carrots. There is a printed note on top.

_A little bit of help for you! - Jason and Co._

Underneath the English, there's a clip art of a door with the number 204 plastered on top. There's also a google translated version of the sentence in Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese. No Thai though.

They stare at the bag before shrugging and bringing it back into their dorm. It takes care of food for a week, until their coach gets on them for eating a proper athlete's diet. They thank their fortune, leave a _Thank you!_ sticky note on the door of 204, and make a pointed effort to completely avoid Jason.

* * *

It happens when Yuuri and Phichit are looking through the university's collection of newspaper archives. They were both out for a few weeks for competition and are both  _very_  screwed for one of their shared contemporary studies classes. The professor is far from understanding, pointing out all the other student athletes who have been able to keep on top. Said student athletes have no light behind their eyes anymore, but the professor doesn't seem to notice.

So they are shifting through newspapers, eyes glazed over and brains unable to remember what they have spent the past four hours looking for in the first place, when an image from a local tabloid catches their eye.

They do a double take at the familiar face in the image, and Phichit's eyes blow wide at the caption.

Yuuri and Phichit stare at the photo. The words remain the same.

_Millionaire playboy (and skating extraordinaire) Celestino Cialdini greets mob of fans outside The Westin._

_Millionaire Playboy Celestino Cialdini._

_Millionaire. Playboy._

_(and skating extraordinaire)_

_Celestino Cialdini._

It's dated to 1996, and Celestino is surrounded by screaming fans and a mane that was as impressive then as it is now. He's winking at the camera, and wearing a [massive black fur jacket](http://assets.vogue.com/photos/55d926c3236da4c133178b82/master/pass/GUCCI-FALL-1996-RTW-13-JODIE-KIDD.jpg) from Gucci (according to the article).

"I can see it," Phichit says finally. "He's very tall and built."

"The hair too," Yuuri adds and Phichit hums in agreement. "Very luscious."

"That's a really big word for someone who doesn't speak English," Phichit replied and Yuuri smacks the back of his head.

Later on, they photocopy the page and take it back to their dorm room. It goes in the nicest frame they can get from Dollar Tree and hangs above Phichit's hamster cage. They think nothing of it for a few more weeks, mostly because school stomps them down and they have no capacity to think beyond whatever their courses and skating practice demands from them.

* * *

 

They're in a Dunkin' Donuts, sitting beside the window as they slurp down coolattas. They have a decent view of the cars pulling up in the drive thru, which is how they see their coach roll up in an [obnoxiously blue Corvette](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/31/36/0f/31360fe652546a6bf6cf2b26713f3b8f.jpg).

They stare at Celestino as he gives an easy smile to the drive thru attendant. The window is tinted but Phichit  _swears_  that the attendant blushes a little. Celestino doesn't notice Phichit and Yuuri through the window, but from that moment, Phichit and Yuuri start noticing  _everything_ about Celestino.

They notice that his watch is by Omega. His hair is consistently silky and voluminous, even when he spends a day on the ice skating circles around his students. They swear they see him driving a slick black [Maserati Gran Turismo](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/77/dc/e5/77dce506af0a4263f8fe86e5bc2babe8.jpg). His skin looks well moisturized.

Phichit and Yuuri run into him at the grocery store, and he's wearing [Givenchy loafers](http://images.neimanmarcus.com/ca/10/product_assets/X/3/D/2/V/NMX3D2V_mu.jpg). Yuuri clutches his chest and Phichit sneaks a picture.

Celestino invites Phichit and Yuuri over for dinner one Thursday night. He routinely asks skaters to join him for dinner, to connect with them on a personal level. Phichit and Yuuri have been invited before, but it's always to a restaurant. This time, Celestino's invited them to his  _home._ By this time, Phichit and Yuuri have Googled absolutely  _everything_  there is to know about Celestino Cialdini.

"I feel like I might let something slip," Yuuri says as Phichit gels back his hair for him.

"I'll keep you away from the alcohol," Phichit reassures, slathering on way more product than necessary. Yuuri ducks his head out and Phichit starts work on his own hair.

"I feel like he might just take one look and  _know_ ," Yuuri says and Phichit makes a face.

"We'll be fine," He says, slipping into the nicest shoes fifty dollars at the BOGO event at Payless got him and Yuuri an hour earlier. "He's still our Celestino."

"Playboy millionaire Celestino," Yuuri corrects

"And skating extraordinaire," Phichit adds.

They take a cab to Celestino's house, which is not a sprawling, ten thousand square foot mansion as they were envisioning earlier. Instead, it's a sprawling Riverfront penthouse. A doorman lets them in.  _A door man_. Yuuri is glad he managed to wipe off some of the gel helmet that Phichit had lovingly applied to his hair because otherwise he would be sweating it out all right now.

Phichit looks composed, with a gleam in his eyes. It's times like this where Yuuri is glad he has Phichit in his life, because if it was just him, he'd probably fake his death and disappear instead of going to dinner at his insanely rich coach's penthouse. It would be the more convenient thing to do and he had been looking at training options in Canada before Detroit anyways. He wouldn't have to move  _that_ far.

Celestino greets them, in dark Levi's and a casual white (Burberry) button up. Somehow, Yuuri and Phichit in their dress shirts and nicest slacks still feel under dressed.

"Ciao Ciao!" Phichit greets enthusiastically, and Yuuri nods along a "Hello!".

Celestino smiles at the nonsensical nickname, as he always does, and invites them in.

Dinner goes as well as it possibly could. For the most part, Yuuri and Phichit think that they do a good job about covering up that they're already well versed in the anecdotes that Celestino shares, courtesy of their furious Googling for the past week or so. Phichit pours Yuuri's wine into his own glass while Celestino isn't looking, to keep true to his promise.

"I'm proud of you two," Celestino says after his fifth glass of wine, cheeks slightly red. "You two are the most committed, hardworking skaters I've had. You two have the potential to be extraodinaires."

Phichit beams and Yuuri chokes on his cheesecake.

"It's all because of your help!" Phichit chirps. "It's an honour to have a genius like you teach us, especially with your extremely illustrious track record."

"Ah yes," Celestino tips back in his chair, closing his eyes. Phichit grabs Yuuri's glass and downs the rest of the wine. Yuuri is the only one who is stone cold sober. "I see a lot of myself in you two, you know. So much drive and passion."

Yuuri doesn't see it fully, at least not for himself. Anxiety and fluctuating self loathe aside, he regularly hunts for his glasses while wearing them. He has boyband and extravagant figure skating posters up on his wall. He wore a neon orange sweatshirt and red track pants to practice last week.

Phichit, maybe. Phichit has a little more flair. Phichit "accidentally" threw the red track pants down the trash chute.

Somehow, Phichit gets to the topic of the article they found. Celestino gives a loud, rumbling laugh at that.

"You have to show me that!" He exclaims, gesturing excitedly. "Bring it into practice tomorrow."

"You had a black fur jacket on," Phichit says.

"Gucci," Yuuri adds, and Celestino beams.

"I still have it," He says, pushing his chair away from the table.

Celestino's closet is obscenely large. Yuuri wants to say that it's the size of his and Phichit's fairly sizeable dorm room but that would be doing the closet a serious disservice. There are rows of clothing, with a wall shelf dedicated fully to his shoe collection. There is an island dresser in the centre of the closet, and Celestino doesn't mention it but Yuuri supposes there is an extensive watch, sunglass and cufflink collection in there.

Stepping into the closet elicits the same feeling he had when he was a child and had stepped into a giant toy shop for the first time back in Hasetsu. He's scared to touch anything, even though Celestino keeps insisting they take a good look around while he hunts down the coat.

Turns out, Celestino liked the coats so much back in the day that he had bought four. Celestino seems as surprised with the re-discovery as Phichit and Yuuri are, but he is extremely delighted. He lets Phichit and Yuuri try on one each, and Yuuri has to admit than in alternate universe where he is able to afford this coat and the physical appeal required to pull it off, he would probably be able to rock it. The jacket is the softest, most comfortable thing he has ever put on, and it feels like pure money.

Celestino takes a picture of Phichit and Yuuri in the coat on both their phones, and Yuuri makes the photo his background because yeah. He is kind of rocking it.

Somehow, the cab ride back home finds Phichit and Yuuri wrapped under one excessively large black fur coat.

"I can't believe he gave it to us," Yuuri whispers into the warmth of the coat and Phichit giggles.

"It's so soft. Can you believe he goes to oxygen bars?"

Phichit and Yuuri make it back to their dorm completely shrouded in the black coat. They overheat after stepping into their room, which is probably the size of Celestino's broom closet.

* * *

 

The luscious coat hangs in their closet in a protective sheet, till one day Yuuri's laptop dies an agonizing death. It was raining, Yuuri was running in between campus buildings, and Yuuri didn't have his backpack because Yuuri didn't look at the weather. Yuuri collided with a cyclist and went sprawling across the pavement. Thankfully, he was okay, but his laptop had a little less luck.

"It doesn't even turn on," he chokes through tears, sitting on his bed as Phichit rubs his back comfortingly.

His parents have already poured so much money into his school, his travelling, his skating, his  _everything_. He can't ask them for a new laptop, especially because he lost this one to carelessness. He's near the bottom of his prize money collection and the thought of asking his parents for a cent more than what they're already investing in him makes his stomach clench and his heart feel uneasy.

He had managed to barely keep it together when the cyclist was running off a million apologies and offering to help pay for the laptop (Yuuri refused, because the weather was shit and it wasn't her fault either.) As soon as he stepped into his dorm, Phichit asked what was wrong and Yuuri lost it.

Fresh tears spring to his eyes because he feels so  _stupid_. The crying makes him feel stupider. The fact that he's crying over a  _laptop_. It's probably not even that serious, but it feels immense to him. The crying makes him feel stupider.  And that feeling makes him cry harder. It's an endless cycle that currently sucks very, very much.

"I don't know how I can balance a job on top of training and competing and school," Yuuri sobs. "I'm not even winning anything right now."

"You will be soon," Phichit soothes, but Yuuri can't hear him through his haze. "We'll figure something out"

The idea comes to Phichit later that night, when he's cleaning out his hamster's cage. His eye catches the clothing bag that contains the Gucci jacket. The  _expensive_  Gucci jacket.

"Absolutely not," Yuuri protests weakly while Phichit starts to type up the ad.

"Celestino would understand," Phichit replies, squinting at his own screen. "You saw his closet anyways. He had four of them."

"It was a gift," Yuuri says. "You're not supposed to sell gifts."

"You're not," Phichit agrees. "But here we are."

"Phichit..."

"You're not making me feel any better about this, but I'm going to do it." Phichit sighs, voice taking on a slightly annoyed tone. "We'll get him another day when we become famous skaters. But right now, we have a problem to fix."

Yuuri lets out a little sniff and stares at the floor while Phichit keeps typing. He still finds the situation extremely uncomfortable, but Phichit is set. And he is thankful to have a friend that is so quick to have his back.

Yuuri mumbles something and Phichit makes a questioning noise.

"I said," Yuuri says, still quiet. "We aren't ready to wear Gucci anyways."

Phichit stares at him.

"Please don't ever say that again," He says, but turns to his screen smiling.

For a couple of days, there are only one or two interested buyers who want to pay significantly less than what Phichit advertised it for. Yuuri starts looking for jobs, because he can't hammer out essays and study unnecessarily complicated modules on the school library computers all the time.

Phichit has a bright idea by the middle of the week.

 _BLACK TOM FORD/GUCCI FUR COAT '96 FOR SALE_ turns into  _BLACK TOM FORD/GUCCI FUR COAT '96, WORN BY CELESTINO CIALDINI, FOR SALE._

For good measure, Phichit writes in a little blurb confirming that he and Yuuri are students of the famed skater with a picture of the three of them, and then a picture of Yuuri and Phichit holding the coat. Phichit writes a small sob story about being broke international college students in America, and their financial emergency.

Yuuri expresses some concern about having their face up on the post, but they both agree that Celestino's internet experience doesn't really go beyond posting news articles about the gaggle of skaters he coaches on Facebook.

One more day passes by with nothing.

The day after, Phichit wakes up to fifteen emails enquiring about the coat with eight serious offers already placed. Phichit and Yuuri's eyes bulge at the various numbers, specifically one that sits a considerable amount higher than all the other ones. Without a second thought, Phichit emails the highest bidder, skatedaddy74, back with an approval and gets an address with no name to a P.O Box right in Detroit.

Yuuri packs the coat with a lot of care and a significantly larger amount of regret. In his head, he promises to Celestino a million times over to pay him back for his coat, or to gift him one that's equally as lavish.

"Are you crying?" Phichit asks, as Yuuri snips off the last bit of tape.

"I am emotionally weak," Yuuri concedes with a sniff, and Phichit wraps an arm around him.

They mail it out as soon as the bidder transfers the entire amount into Phichit's bank account, which happens within the day.

"They must be super eager to get their hands on this," Phichit murmurs as he accepts the e-transfer.

By the end of the week, Yuuri has a new laptop, and the cost of it hasn't eaten at even half the amount of money they got for the coat. Phichit suggests they hold on to the amount as an emergency fund. Hopefully they'll be able to get through the rest of the year relatively well, until the money from their competitions start trickling in again.

And when they do, they'll use the money to get something nice for Celestino. Maybe to produce a short ice show called  _Celestino Cialdini is the Best Coach Ever_ _and By The Way We Sold Your Coat Because We Are Broke Students Thank You For Understanding and Being The Best Coach Ever, Thanks!_

* * *

The morning air is cool and Yuri resents not wearing a scarf as his feet pound the pavement. Phichit is a few steps ahead, and Phichit is wearing a scarf because Phichit checks the weather. Phichit is not running against the cold wind with the expression of a baby that just bit into a lemon.

Yuuri is thankful that he has at least layered up. He had been ready to go out in a thermal shirt layered over an undershirt, but Phichit had thrown a sweater in his face. It's black, form fitting, with a brand he doesn't know emblazoned across it bold white letters. It's not something he normally wears but it is so comfortable and so,  _so_ warm.

They eventually work up a good sweat, looping around the small lake near their dorm at an ungodly hour in the morning. Yuuri focuses on his breathing, and takes a moment to enjoy the cool air and the fresh burn in his legs.

Phichit rounds on him as soon as they hit their five mile mark and slow down. The sky is still a mix of soft blues and vivid pinks, the sun creeping slowly over the horizon. He whips out his phone, taking a couple of pictures of the sun rising over the lake before pointing the camera to Yuuri. Yuuri's feeling pretty good, and Phichit's out-of-breath smile makes him feel even better, so he grins wide and gives two thumbs up for the camera.

"Can I instagram this?" Phichit asks, turning the screen towards him. Yuuri leans in to take a look and yeah, he has to admit that he's looking pretty okay. He definitely does not look like the nocturnal gargoyle that had stared back at him in the washroom mirror this morning, questioning who thought waking up before seven was a good idea. Yuuri nods.

Phichit doesn't post it till they're back in their dorm, after he makes Yuuri join him in scrutinizing all the filters. Yuuri is trying to sneak in a nap before his late morning class, but Phichit's tapping a foot and waiting for him to like the photo.

Yuuri groans, and opens up Instagram. He keeps scrolling till he finds the picture, which already has a considerable amount of likes. It's no surprise, since Phichit has a fairly large following on the app. Every time he posts something with Yuuri, Yuuri's follower count spikes a little.

Yuuri has to admit, it's probably one of his favourite pictures of himself. The rising sun gives him a soft glow, and his face looks pleasingly flushed instead of the ruddy red it normally does cardio. Phichit's one of the only people he trusts to take a decent picture of him, and the only person for whom he'll ham it up in front of a camera.

He hits the "Read more" and sees way too many hashtags for him to read at the moment, so he just double taps the image before locking his phone and placing it on the bedside table. He rolls over and falls asleep almost immediately.

* * *

The guilt over the coat is still nibbling away at Phichit and Yuuri, so they decide to bake Celestino a cake for being the greatest coach ever.

Half of this decision is influenced by Celestino asking if either of them have wore the coat out yet ( _"Yes, of course!"_ ) and the other half is influenced by Phichit being sent an extra set of oven mitts.

Why Phichit ordered neon pink oven mitts to begin with when he doesn't bake  is beyond Yuuri, but the mitts are there and the oven in the common area has recently been cleaned enough that it doesn't smell like burnt salmon.

According to a fan site, Celestino's cake is this one vanilla bean cake with mascarpone cream, strawberry conserve, and flakes of Belgian chocolate and gold. Yuuri and Phichit understand perhaps a quarter of what any of that means, and know for sure that they can't afford gold flakes without dipping into what they have dubbed the Coat Fund.

In another interview that they found, Celestino mentions in passing that he doesn't mind angel cake. Phichit and Yuuri go out and buy three boxes of the Betty Crocker mix, some whipped cream, and a bag of frozen strawberries. Phichit and Yuuri are great cooks when it comes to savoury foods, but none of them have a strong enough sweet tooth to justify making cakes or muffins or anything to the like.

It surprisingly takes them only one bad batch to figure out what they're doing. The smell fills the kitchen and starts to waft into the common area, causing a couple of people to wander in looking for a bite. Phichit and Yuuri offer up their first badly done cake, and no one bothers them again.

There is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction when Yuuri pulls the golden-brown cake out of the oven and the steam clears from his glasses.

Phichit does an excellent job of slicing the cake in half and pouring a glorious amount of whipped cream and strawberries in the middle. After he sandwiches the cake, he pours the remaining can of whipped cream out into the shape of a heart, and places a few more strawberries in the centre of it. Yuuri fulfills his duties of taking pictures of Phichit working.

The cake is so beautiful, and so not burnt and deflated that Yuuri could cry. He almost does.

Phichit whips out his selfie stick, and makes Yuuri hold up the cake. Phichit puts the corner of one of the oven mitts in his mouth, bites down and winks at the camera, throwing up a peace sign while Yuuri smiles on genially.

On Instagram, the photo gets an unusual amount of likes. Phichit has gone hashtag crazy on it, and Yuuri squints at the website he added at the bottom of the post.

Phichit really must have liked those oven mitts.

Celestino  _loves_  the cake.

* * *

Yuuri notices that Phichit has started posting on Instagram a lot more than he normally does. Phichit hunches over his phone in dogged determination, adjusting the filters, colours, and saturation balance in his posts till they are  _exactly_  how he wants them. He places an immense amount of hash tags in his posts, moreso than normal.

More importantly, he notices that Phichit's got a new slick white tin of tea with the name of some brand he's seen floating around on social media. It's sitting on their desk, and it claims to be some organic green tea/oolong combination with a bunch of other blends. When Yuuri opens it to take a short sniff, it smells  _divine_.

"Can I have this?" Yuuri shakes the tin in Phichit's direction. Phichit, who's sitting on the bed using his textbook as a pillow as he scrolls through his Instagram feed, makes a short affirmative noise.

The initial sip Yuuri has as he sits down at his desk tastes nowhere as good as the tea smells. He wrinkles his nose slightly, but decides to power through it anyways because making a cup of something different would require effort. At this time, effort is only reserved for studies and skating.

"Is it good?" Phichit asks, and Yuuri nods. He's not quite sure why he does, but he figures if he tells Phichit the truth then he's going to have to give an  _explanation_.

He turns back to his notes, and takes another sip. It tastes marginally better. Past the sweetness of the sugar, it does have some earthy undertones and-

He really needs to start studying.

A few hours later, while he's brushing his teeth, Yuuri's phone pings with a notification from Instagram. Phichit has tagged him in a photo, and Yuuri frowns as he opens up the app.

It's a photo of him studying that looks...unusually good. It looks a lot better than that kind of candid has any business looking. It's very symmetrical, with Yuuri in a soft focus in the background, and his nondescript mug in the foreground. The tag for the teabag stands bright and green against the white porcelain and is the clear focal point.

Yuuri hits the read more, and scrolls past Phichit's unnecessarily long post about how the tea has been  _so_  helpful and has been  _so_  much better than any coffee and is  _so_  detoxifying. There's a discount code at the bottom, encouraging people to buy the tea.

Yuuri has a sneaking suspicion that he knows what this is about, but he gets distracted by a comment on the photo.

It's a fan of his (he has  _fans_ , not many, but he has  _fans_ ) who's commented with a " _Tell Yuuri good luck on his studies! Can't wait to see him on the ice in Shanghai!_ " and five heart emojis.

He's not the greatest with replies, but he manages to write a "Thanks!" to the user. The warmth the comment brings him pushes out any theories he has about Phichit's instagram feed, and lasts him till he goes to sleep.

* * *

Yuuri's suspicions are confirmed when, on what is supposed to be their rest day from school and practice, Phichit wakes him up before sun rise.

"It's really important!" Phichit pleads, and Yuuri squints at him through the dark of their room. Have his teeth always been this white?

Yuuri grunts and throws on as many layers as he can. Phichit's wearing a light grey hoodie with a pair of sweatpants that look like they serve a lot more form than function. He's got a giant water bottle with him that has the same brand splashed across it as the hoodie.

When they make it to the lake, the sun is sitting low on the horizon. Phichit does a couple of laps around the lake while Yuuri sits on a rock and stares into the distance, trying to encourage his brain to fully wake up.

He's dozing off for the tenth time when Phichit taps him on the shoulder, and he startles awake.

Phichit has a healthy glow about him, complimented by the pink and purple skies. He makes Yuuri take pictures of him standing, squatting, drinking enthusiastically from the water bottle, and jumping in the air. Yuuri manages to get one really good picture looking up at Phichit from below as he flashes a peace sign and winks at the camera. After every twenty pictures or so, Phichit grabs the phone to check the camera roll, and makes pleased noises every time he comes across a particularly good one.

Yuuri is finally released half an hour later, when the sun has finished rising and the lighting is no longer as pleasing as Phichit originally wanted.

Phichit tags him in the post, giving him photo credits but Yuuri sleeps through the rest of the day and forgets to bring it up.

* * *

Yuuri finally gets around to asking Phichit about it when he has a rather violent reaction to Yuuri during a study session. They're at the library, pouring over notes for each of their classes. Yuuri's about to drink from a water bottle that Phichit has "lent" him, when Phichit, who was previously so engrossed in his textbook that he (supposedly) didn't hear Yuuri ask him multiple times for an eraser, snaps his head up and brings out his phone at a frightening speed.

Yuuri tentatively raises the bottle to his lips, about to take a sip when Phichit waves his hands frantically and whisper-yells a "Wait!"

He lunges forward and roughly rotates the bottle in Yuuri's hand so that the label is facing the camera. "Ok, smile!"

Yuuri stares at him through squinted eyes, then manages an minuscule, incredulous smile as the shutter sound goes off.

"Very sultry! This will be great!" Phichit mutters, clicking one photo after another. Yuuri feels weird but he's also kind of thirsty, so he takes a couple of sips before he sets down the bottle and folds his hands in front of him.

"What are you doing?" He whispers, and Phichit hums. Yuuri reaches forward and presses down on Phichit's phone till Phichit looks up at him.

"Haven't you been keeping up with my stuff on Instagram?" He asks, and Yuuri nods slowly.

"I have...but  _what are you doing_?"

Phichit sighs, and pulls his phone out from under Yuuri's phone. He taps a few buttons, and then turns the screen to Yuuri.

His email account is open to a folder called "Sponsorships". There is a list of emails, all of them with the words "Social Media Sponsorships" in the title in some iteration or another. Yuuri selects the one that has the brand of the sweater that Phichit had lent him a couple of weeks ago.

The email is from the company that makes the sweaters, offering Phichit a couple hundred dollars to promote their goods on his Instagram. They feel that with his athletic career and college student reliability, he'll be able to reach out to a wide range of followers and will be a good partner for their brand.

"I'm trying to make enough money to fill the gap to buy back Celestino's coat," Phichit says as Yuuri continues scrolling through the emails. "A couple of more posts after this, and I'll be there."

"That gap is because of me though," Yuuri says quietly. Phichit's been doing all this work just because of Yuuri's stupid laptop, and a small amount of anxiety has started creeping in. "We sold the coat because of me. You shouldn't have to-"

Phichit waves a hand in front of his face, cutting him off.

"Hello! It was my idea, and that's why I'm doing it," Phichit says, taking back his phone. "Plus, in case you haven't noticed, some of the posts have you in it too. So you're helping out too!"

Yuuri frowns. "Are you sure you'll be able to buy back the coat though? The person must be a really big fan."

"They already said yes," Phichit says with a shrug. "After we get back the coat, we can split the money from the posts. Fifty fifty."

"After I pay you back for your effort," Yuuri says and Phichit rolls his eyes with a fond smile.

"We'll discuss that when we get there," he says. "But I think if we team up, we can make a decent amount of money. Your posts are very popular, you know."

Yuuri's ears turn pink and Phichit grins wider.

Yuuri doesn't know if fundamentally he's okay with modelling. His confidence on the ice is always just for show, and he's much more reserved off the ice.

But whenever something involves Phichit, he's automatically put at ease. If he can't work through the emotions of a step sequence, he cuts loose with Phichit for a while on the ice, dancing like a maniac as Celestino yells after them to actually practice.

In the rare occasion he works up enough courage and tries to ask someone out, Phichit is always ten feet away, pretending to be a casual stranger, but serving as emotional support for Yuuri.

And this is social media modelling anyways. Just him and Phichit and what will probably be a very large supply of tea, if he's learned anything from the Instagram models that pop up on his feed.

"Yeah," He finally replies, smiling and Phichit's face lights up. "Let's do this."

* * *

It feels ridiculous, but Yuuri and Phichit manage to plow through post after post, growing more ridiculous with each one. Yuuri's favourites are the ones that they take on the ice, while Phichit has grown a penchant for taking photos at sunrise.

"The morning sun makes my skin look flawless," he explains to Yuuri, but it doesn't stop from Yuuri staring vacantly at his ceiling for ten minutes every time an early morning alarm goes off.

Even though the posts are solely on Phichit's account, Yuuri's follower count on Instagram also goes up, and it's strange having fans of his that aren't from his skating career. There are people calling him  _cute_ and  _adorable_  and  _hot_  and all these other that he really hasn't been called before. His ego feels strange, and he's not sure if he warrants such comments, but they're making a decent amount of money, so Yuuri ignores those feelings.

Jason somehow finds their accounts and follows both of them. Yuuri and Phichit laugh nervously when they get the notification, and almost bolt when they see him roaming on campus but he greets them both with a giant hug.

"Guys! Your English is getting so much better!" He exclaims, and Phichit and Yuuri exchange looks when he envelops them enthusiastically.

When they pull apart, both have huge smiles plastered to their faces.

"Arigatou!" Yuuri says, and he can hear Phichit choke back a laugh. They'll tell Jason one day. But this is not that day.

* * *

As soon as Yuuri and Phichit earned enough money, they sent out a request to the buyer. The buyer was surprisingly amicable, agreeing to the refund and wishing them the best. They do request an autograph from Celestino though. Yuuri and Phichit print out a photo of Celestino (the first one that pops up on Google Images, one of a sponsorship he did Armani in the early 2000's) on the best card stock they can afford, and ask their coach to sign it. Celestino's face does a funny twitch, but he signs it with no questions asked.

As soon as the money has been returned and the autograph sent out, they get a tracking number for the coat.

The package arrives one afternoon in the tail end of practice. Phichit's phone goes off while Yuuri's skating circles to cool down and contemplate his choreography.

"Yuuri!" He yells across the rink, causing the girl standing right beside him, he was talking to mere seconds ago, to wince. "It's arrived!"

Much to Celestino's chagrin, Yuuri and Phichit vault out of the rink at the speed of light with barely-there apologies. They are out of breath by the time they make it back to their residence's mail room, but excitedly grab at the box and rush off to their dorm.

There is no note from the buyer, so Phichit shoots off a thank you email with is chock full of caps locked letters and emojis.

The coat is in perfect condition when they pull it out. They're actually sure it's in better condition than what they sent it in. The softness of it is unreal and Yuuri silently apologizes to the coat for ever selling it off in the first place.

Phichit uses a textbook to hammer in a nail into their wall for the wire hanger they place the coat on. It hangs beside the framed newspaper article, after Phichit combs it out a little.

A couple of days later, when Phichit is cleaning his hamster cage out, he accidentally knocks the jacket over. When he picks it up, he sees a receipt tucked into the pocket that he and Yuuri missed from before.

It's a Waffle House receipt dated for three days after they had initially sold the coat. The first thing Phichit's eyes goes to is the tip because woah, who is leaving a thirty dollar tip on chocolate chip waffles and a side of two eggs?

When he sees Celestino's name at the top of the receipt, he nearly has a heart attack.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) All of these are based off real life experiences via myself or friends. University was a strange time and I miss it. Something I get every now and then still is a "Wow, your English is very good!" Yes I've lived in North America for almost all my life. thank
> 
> 2) I think up until I went to wiki something for this fic, I interpreted Yuuri's time in Detroit differently. I assumed he studied there while skating? I feel like that's the case? But I see people saying different? And I assume him and Phichit are rooming together since they are skating extraordinaires. Is this a University AU with skating now? 
> 
> 3) I love the character designs in this show with a burning passion. But within 0.01 seconds of first seeing Yuuri, I thought yes. There it is. The most adorable character I've ever seen.
> 
> 4) Celestino is in his early 40s during the events of the anime so that would place him in his 20s in the mid 90s. think of his closet structure to be similar to that of a Kardashian's.
> 
> 5) The name is from a board game my parents got me when I was a kid. It's...interesting lol


End file.
